Scotch
by Vietta
Summary: Reno visits Rufus in the hospital and smuggles in some alcohol for good measure.


A slip of the tongue was all it took and then Reno was on the floor. He quickly used the chair behind him to pull himself up, his cheek smarting from where he had been hit. Considering who had hit him, Reno felt lucky to be conscious. He frowned at his attacker, his brows knitting together as he rubbed his cheek. "What the hell, Rude?"

Rude's stony expression was enough to tell Reno exactly what he had done wrong, but the bald man spoke anyways. "Don't' talk like that. It's too damned soon." Reno could tell that the words 'you insensitive bastard' were written into every syllable uttered in Rude's muted tones.

"Sorry, I just…. Thought it was a valid question." Reno looked through the window to Rufus' hospital bedroom, rubbing his cheek with a sour expression as Rude stalked away, conversation done.

The question had sounded harmless enough and Reno knew that Rude wanted to know the answer too, but Reno's sense for tact was not good and asking the question '_how long does he have left?_' aloud was about as insensitive as it got. Reno opened the door, knowing that his cheek was likely bruised and angry looking.

Rufus didn't look at him when he walked in, a thin bead of geostigma laced sweat rolling down his temple. Being bed bound did nothing good to Rufus Shinra's mood. Reno took a rag from the stand beside the bed and mopped up the black mess that was the remains of Rufus' latest geostigma attack.

"Was I hallucinating just now of did Rude just drop you like a rock?" Rufus' voice held a mocking tone, but Reno knew the question was serious. As his condition worsened, Rufus' hallucinations had become more vivid.

"Oh yeah, he got me good." Reno rubbed at his still sore cheek as he mopped up Rufus' face. Even though he was barely able to walk, was in the grip of an illness so foreign that no doctor had been able to help him, and was currently being cleaned up by his subordinate, Rufus still managed to look dignified.

"You probably deserved it." Rufus shrugged, attempting to push himself into a sitting position. Reno let him struggle upright on his own, propping pillows behind him once he was up to keep him in position. Rufus turned to look at him once he was comfortable again, his breath caught and the pain removed from his eyes, eyes that were now mismatched because the geostigma had invaded Rufus' left eye and had turned it from steel grey to a murky black and green color. "Did you bring what I asked for?"

Reno grinned and slipped a hand into his jacket, pulling out an item that had been hard to win from Rufus' penthouse without being detected by the ever watchful Tseng. "Oh yeah, I got it."

Rufus smiled happily and took the flask, opening it quickly and tipping it back with a heady groan of delight. Sometimes Reno wondered if Rufus needed AA. Sometimes Reno didn't care. Rufus wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, looking at Reno quizzically. "Was that-"

"Banora white vodka." Reno cut Rufus off, a smirk on his face. "Had ta fill it up with my stuff. Tseng dumped yours out while he was going through your effects. Said somethin' along the lines of 'raging alcoholic' but then he switched to Wutain so I don't know what else he muttered about you. Didn't sound flatterin' though."

Rufus laughed, his mood greatly improved by the doctor-banned alcohol in his grasp. "Damn. That was expensive scotch."

"I don't know how you can drink that shit." Reno wrinkled his nose at the mention of Rufus' favorite drink, sitting in the cushy armchair beside the bed. "It's so damned bitter."

"Not everyone likes the fruity stuff, Reno." Rufus snorted, smiling at Reno as he passed the flask over.

"From what I hear you like the fruity stuff just fine." Reno grinned cheekily and winked, grabbing the flask and taking a swig before passing it back. "So why did you want your flask so bad? Was mine not good enough for ya?"

"I was just really hoping for my scotch." Rufus took another large swig of the vodka and then capped the flask, reclining back into the pillows with a happy sigh. "Gods did I miss alcohol. Don't go on a mission while I'm stuck in bed ever again. You're the only one who will smuggle booze in for me."

Reno chuckled and reclined the armchair, passing Rufus the remote for the television that was mounted on the opposite wall. As Rufus flipped through channels, whining about the lack of intelligent entertainment available to him, Reno gave Rufus the once over that he had been avoiding. On his IV riddled arms there were large black and brown patches of skin, some coated with an experimental cream that was meant to clear up the stigma and others left bare, too new to have been treated yet. Nothing was working. For all the money that was being fed into Rufus Shinra's health, there was a disappointing and expensive lack of progress. Even a phoenix feather had been procured, an honest to goodness feather not just the down, with the hope that it would have enough healing power to banish the infectious disease that was causing Rufus to die a slow and painful death.

A blacked mess of soiled feather had been the only result of that experiment.

Reno sat up when Rufus began to drift off, his determined gaze softening as sleep took hold. The room was thrust into near darkness as Reno flipped off the buzzing fluorescent bulbs overhead, the curtains tightly drawn over the windows. The television provided a reassuring background noise as Reno settled back into his chair, looking at Rufus with a sorrowful gaze that he wouldn't dare turn on the man while he was awake. In the dim light cast by the television, each patch of geostigma ridden skin on Rufus' pale, emaciated looking flesh stood out in horrifyingly vivid black detail. The dark patch over Rufus' eyes was beginning to ooze again, a sure sign that another attack was imminent. Reno sighed and set a rag over Rufus' forehead, watching the man's eyes twitch beneath their lids.

He had better remember to bring Rufus scotch while the man was still around to enjoy it.


End file.
